Key Takeaways
- Wurl’s CTV Trends Report argues that advertisers may be missing valuable FAST News audiences by relying on broad channel- or genre-level exclusions.
- Scene-level contextual targeting gives advertisers more precise control by evaluating the content moments before ad breaks instead of judging an entire program or channel.
A new report from Wurl challenges the historical assumptions of advertising on news channels.
In their latest report,The CTV Trends Report: Rethinking Brand Safety and Audience Behavior on News Channels, the survey explores the realities of brand safety within news programming on free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST), Wurl’s offers new data highlighting how advances in scene-level contextual targeting are helping advertisers unlock premium inventory with greater precision and confidence.
As streaming audiences continue to grow, News channels provide a strong opportunity to reach highly-engaged audiences. News now accounts for about 8.6% of all FAST viewing hours, with some households consuming almost exclusively news content. Devices that spend more than 90% of their time watching news account for 7.4% of viewing hours across all FAST genres, creating a meaningful audience segment unreachable through other genres.
Why Wurl Sees News Channel as Growth Opportunity
Wurl CEO Dave Bernath commented that despite the data stating otherwise, many advertisers continue to rely on broad genre- and channel-level exclusions that limit access to news inventory entirely, sacrificing reach and performance.
“Brand safety has historically forced advertisers into an all-or-nothing approach with news,” said Bernath, in a statement. “But the reality is far more nuanced. Today, with scene-level contextual analysis, advertisers can evaluate the actual moment before an ad break rather than making assumptions about an entire channel or program. That changes the equation completely.”
Data Highlights from CTV Trends Report
As advertisers seek greater precision and control in streaming TV environments, scene-level targeting is reshaping how news inventory is evaluated and activated on the biggest screen in the home, according to Worl officials. Of all analyzed news content, 35.7% of scenes were classified as fully brand safe across IAB-aligned categories. Their report also found that :
- A small but highly engaged segment drives the majority of news consumption: Just 6.4% of all devices account for over 80% of total news consumption, highlighting an audience that would be difficult to reach elsewhere.
- Brand safety risk in mews is concentrated and predictable: When looking at specific categories, the majority of brand safety flags are driven by a handful of categories tied to real-world events, including death/harm, violence, and war/conflict. Several other commonly cited risk categories are far less prevalent.
- Brand safety risk profiles differ across red and blue-leaning News environments: Red-leaning content skews more toward war/conflict and derogatory themes, while blue-leaning content more frequently features violence and death/harm.
Bernath offered that rather than relying on broad exclusions, advertisers can now identify suitable moments in real time through solutions like Wurl Advertising’s Scene-Level targeting to unlock trusted, high-attention News audiences with greater confidence and scale.
To see all of the insights, read The CTV Trends Report: Rethinking Brand Safety and Audience Behavior on News Channels here.
